Keeping it in the Family
by thedefectivevoid
Summary: When Peridot, daughter of Beach Citys leading tech and communications mogul, Yellow Diamond of Diamond Homeworld Enterprises continues her studies in Crystal Gems U, she had not expected her structured life and her most precious secrets to go down in flames. What exactly is her problem that she does not want roommate Lapis Lazuli to know? Human!au Lapidot, warnings inside.
1. prologue

Prologue

 **Disclaimer: All rights go to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. None of it is mine, except for the plot.** _ **Sigh**_ **.**

 **Main pairing: Lapis/Peridot.**

 **Type: Human/College! AU.**

 **Warnings: Self-harm, abuse, depression, sexual harassment, under-age substance addiction and homosexuality.**

 **Rating: M**

 **A/N: Hey and thanks! You've began your journey into reading another one of my stories and I hope you enjoy it. This AU has been lingering in my head for a while and I guess it was finally time to let it out. I'm still working on Kid Sister, though. So maybe you guys wanna check that one out too? I'd appreciate the reviews and comments, so keep them coming. I also wanna try to use all of the characters the show has given us so far and incorporate them into the story because I like all of them.**

 **Enjoy!**

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The young woman liked blood.

No, scratch that. She, for some twisted reason or another, absolutely _loved_ blood.

And as she sat with her bare back against the cold surface of the tub, the young woman gave out a slow, shaky breath of release as she dragged the edge of the small blade into her inner left arm. A small, somewhat blissful smile carved out on her trembling lips as more hot tears leaked out from her eyes from the sharp, stinging pain of her fresh wounds.

Her head was throbbing something dull, yet familiar and the young woman held back and swallowed, yet again, a nauseating lump in her throat. Her vision was blurry; impaired from the tears that lined and flowed from her eyes, going down flushed cheeks to a quivering chin.

Another sharp sensation of pain overtook her before it blossomed into warmth as she carved out another vertical line on her skin. She felt as high as the clouds; lost in the maddening sensation of odd bliss and numbness of her wounds, and the strong, overwhelming, metallic smell of blood lingering in the air was slowly choking her; like long, thick fingers or tendrils coiling around her throat from the base of her stomach.

 _But it was nothing she was not used to, anyway._

The weak smile that graced her lips enlarged and she blade dropped out of her cold grasp onto the surface of the tub with a shocking _'clank!_ ' The young woman leaned her head back and closed her eyes to soothe her headache.

Some people drink; others might wrestle or jog- there were lots of methods that existed that people all around turn to lose from them the stresses of daily life; _anything_ to provide them escape from the horrible confines of life and reality and the pain of heartbreak and frustration; the desperation of survival amidst the chaotic masses and growth of community. Hers was cutting.

 _Blood_ \- the pain of the wounds from which it came from; its powerful smell, strong and overwhelming like bleach, marker ink and gasoline; and its bitter, metallic _taste_ in her mouth, from those times whenever she felt like it _\- was her drug_.

Her chest felt heavy and it was like the young woman had trouble breathing- her breaths were deep and ragged and she knew that the headache was going to be awhile, but at least she was calm. At least she was in control of her emotions. The situation was, to put it roughly, a bit fucked up; but to the young woman it felt like everything was alright again in the world.

She cracked her eyes open to the blinding lights of her bathroom and groaned, before averting her gaze to her bloody arm. Who knew red could be such a soothing colour? Her fresh wounds were open and on display like art on a canvas, and the repeat of symmetrical lines were kind of peaceful to the young woman.

She slowly ran a well-manicured finger along her cuts and scars; old and new and was lost in her own head. A slight shiver crept up her spine from when her senses finally registered itself to the bathroom's low temperature and the young woman sighed.

She hooked her uninjured arm over the edge of the tub and pulled herself to her knees. Thin lines of blood ran down her arm and the young woman was thankful that she'd taken the decision to go shirtless, save for the cotton black and grey brief on her lower body to cover up her nether regions. It was much easier this way than to wash off her shirt every time before she could deposit it in the laundry basket for washing.

The young woman paused and with a low hum, she licked off a drop of blood that threatened to fall off her elbow.

It was unhygienic; it was sick, and it also kind of stung a bit and the young woman knew all too well the other many reasons why she shouldn't do it. But she just couldn't stop. Not that she didn't want to, simply because she didn't feel like it yet. The young woman knows that her reasoning is stupid, but it is what it is.

Her home was empty, and for tonight, it was like she had all the time in the world to herself- no responsibilities, no expectations; no worries. She turned on the shower and relished the strong, refreshing spray of water onto her body. She slowly ran the warm water over the cuts to clean them off. After the rinse, the young woman deposited her brief shorts into the basket and wiped herself dry with a clean towel. She used a separate, smaller towel to dab gently onto her wounds, before applying Vaseline onto them. She'd found information about cleaning her cuts online some years ago and stuck with it through the years. The website also suggests putting some sugar onto the wounds but she was not in the mood for it tonight. So after that she put on some antibacterial cream to prevent infection and wrapped her arm with a bandage.

Then, the young woman put on some clothes- a white camisole and some grey shorts, turned off the lights and eased herself into bed. She'd initially wanted to check her phone for any new notifications or messages that had come while she was… occupied, but the thought of sleep takes over her thoughts and her now smaller headache was making it sound so… enchanting.

She blew her last conscious breath for the night and gingerly closed her eyes; while her heart dreads the surprises that tomorrow might bring her.

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 **Reviews are welcome!**


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1: Meeting the _*Gasp!*_ Roommate.

 **Disclaimer:** **All rights go to Rebecca Sugar and Cartoon Network. None of it is mine, except for the plot.** _ **Sigh**_ **.**

 **A/N: If you are reading this, it means that you've successfully endured the first chapter and decided to continue reading my story. Yay! Thank you very much for giving it a chance and reading it in your time. I welcome and appreciate any thoughts and reviews that you might have to better my work and improve my style of writing; so knock yourselves off.**

 **Enjoy!**

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Peridot looked up from the messy pile that was her bed and turned to look at the door, where a girl with short, blue, slightly windblown hair stood with a box in her arms and curled her lip in annoyance.

"What do you want?" She bark-asked, and was silently pleased when the girl seemed to reel back in surprise and looked at the number on the door for the third or fourth time. The girl wore a pair of grey, tight-fitting jeans with a pair of black sandals with a white and blue off-shoulder, long-sleeved shirt that covered her fingers.

"Uh, this is room D-A5-43, right?"

"What matter of it is to you, anyway?" Peridot replied rudely. The girl frowned, before she shook her head and it turned into a smile. She walked in, placed her box on top of the spare bed and held her right hand out.

"I'm your new roommate; Lapis Lazuli."

Peridot couldn't believe her ears. She had a roommate?! B-but she'd already applied for a room that was hers and hers alone! Was her request not approved by the university's authorities? She eyed the appendage warily, like it carried some sort of fatal disease before finally, reluctantly shaking it back with her own hand.

"Diamond… uh, Peridot."

"Cool, hey!" the girl replied. "I've never heard the name Diamond Peridot before. Is that really your real name? Isn't that kind of like a rock or something? I mean, I know that Diamond's technically a type of gem, but Peridot…" She shrugged. Peridot raised an eyebrow at her question. What kind of idiot did these people decided to pair her with, really?

"It's the other way around. The name's Peridot Diamond, actually." She answered and gritted her teeth. "And my name is as much as a rock as yours are, _Lapis Lazuli."_ Peridot spat out venomously. _"_ If you're allowed to be named after a gem, then I deserve that right as well." Lapis narrowed her thinly-sculptured eyebrow and crossed her arms defensively across her chest.

"Whoa, dude. You don't have to be rude, I'm just trying to be nice. We are going to live together for the next… whole semester, you know. Might as well get along."

Peridot decided to turn her attention back to her clutter and grunted. "Whatever, clod." She muttered under her breath and only allowed a small smile when the girl Lapis finally went back out the door with a huff. To get more stuff, probably. It was only after that that Peridot tuned in all her attention back to her mess- there was still so much that she needed to do! Her clothes needed folding and hanging and she needed to arrange her shoes along in the small shoe space in her closet. She needed to set out her laptop and... _Well._

Peridot took in a deep breath to clear her mind and rolled up the sleeves of her brown, silk-cotton cardigan and folded her jean-clad feet on the bed. Peridot had kicked off her shoes first, of course; she certainly didn't want to trail dirt or other gross stuff on top of her still-bare bed. Peridot worked in silence; it helped her to focus at the task at hand. The way the blonde girl sees it, the more focused she was on her job, the faster it would finish; and then she could move on to more less mundane, more exciting things… like at the moment, getting the hell out of this stupid room and out of this damned building!

When her father, Frederick 'Freddy' Fryman had informed her that one of the requirements of studying at Crystal Gem U was staying inside the hostel that was located inside the campus, Peridot could hardly believe her ears. Jasper had outright laughed in her face when she learned about it, but had stopped when she realized that that would most probably meant that she had to do it as well. _Fuck Jasper, anyway._

Peridot scoffed as she proceeded, barefoot, to hang her clothes in the average sized closet, which was much, much smaller than hers at home.

 _"It'll be fun, he said. It'll be easy, he said,"_ she muttered hotly beneath her breath as she sorted the clothes out in accordance to type- night-wear, casual, sports, semi-formal, formal- and returned back to her bed. Her closet was white with black metal frames- the standard design for all student wardrobes, and had two lower drawers from where it opened up to store her shoes and other personal stuff.

After throwing her underwear into one of the drawers and arranging her shoes in the other, Peridot re-zipped her bright yellow and black luggage bag and pushed it into the dusty space underneath her bed. Usually people would either store it on top of their wardrobe-closets, or even inside it for safety reasons, but Peridot's closet was almost full from her clothes alone and standing at the height of slightly lower than the average five feet, she was simply too short to reach the top for that purpose. Peridot had no real worries whether or not the bag would eventually make it to the end of the semester- if it won't, then she'll just buy a new one; easy –peasy. Having born to the prestigious Diamond-Fryman family, money has never been an issue.

Her mother, Yellow Diamond, was the CEO and owner of the world-renown Diamond Homeworld Enterprises, a technology and communications company that specialized in producing mobile phones and other such communication devices- laptops, desktop computers, televisions; etc., etc. Her father was the current owner of the ' _Fryman Fries'-_ A family-based, fry-themed, popular fast food chain restaurant that was well set all over the nation. So _no_ , they've never actually had financial-based problems, thank you very much.

The successful couple had three children; Peridot Diamond-Fryman was the middle child and the only daughter of the family. The eldest was a son, named Renaldo Diamond-Fryman, though in the last few years he's called himself as only Renaldo Fryman, for some weird reason or another. The youngest child was also a son, named Peter Daniels 'PeeDee' Diamond-Fryman. He was 10 years old. Peridot sighed as she remembered the younger boy- _he was the sole reason she was stuck in this place!_

" _-he said, just a few years; maybe you'll even make yourself a few friends, Peridot! Isn't that exciting?!"_ Peridot kept muttering, mocking her dad as she began setting her laptop on top of her desk; an old thing, not even the latest version of her mother's company's design, but she loved it. It was grey with a single typical green alien head on the cover, with a pair of matching speakers, a black, sleek printer set- the latest version, and a small, cordless lime-green and white mouse. The desk was located between her closet and her bed. The room was average sized, not too small much but not as spacious as hers own back at home. It could've been like almost the size of a quarter of her room, minus the private bathroom, so Peridot guessed that that was okay. Beggars can't be choosers anyway, no matter how much she wanted things to go her way sometimes she just had to accept that they won't.

Like her roommate, what's her name? Lapis Lazuli? Peridot snorted. She decided she was going straight to the administration office to sort off the problem after being done with putting away her items. Her campus room had two main spaces: the one straight through the door was the living-slash-sleeping space, which consisted of two twin-sized beds, two matching student-issue closets, and two desks. It had a single window on the wall that overlooked a picturesque view of the famous Beach City Ocean. The second main area consisted two portions: one was of a bathroom that had a single toilet, a mirror and sink set and a simple shower head, sticking out of the wall. And the second was like a small kitchenette, with a small fridge to store in food and a sink to wash the dirty dishes. Peridot unconsciously found herself comparing everything to her luxuries back home. She couldn't help it- it's just that everything's so… different. Everything felt alien to her.

 _Alien, heh heh._

Back at home her private bathroom had a large bathtub to go with her modern-type shower system that had buttons so she can adjust the water temperature for her own comfort, but there was no way she could do that here; there were merely two knobs that she could twist around to get either the hot or cold water out. Back at her private bathroom she had a huge, luxurious vanity mirror on the wall by her sink that could hold her toiletries, and a medium-sized cabinet for personal medicines and the basic first-aid kit, maybe some spare shampoos or toothpaste. Here there was the sink, and on top of it a small mirror that showed only her head, to which Peridot had actually needed to stand on top of toes to see properly, and a single, small cabinet that she had to _share_ with her _roommate_. Peridot shuddered at the thought, and a horrified frown carved itself on her face. _How was she going to get some personal space with some…_ idiot _breathing down her neck 24/7?!_

And as more absorbed she was in her work, the deeper Peridot was lost in her thoughts. Before she knew it, Peridot was done. She wiped a small arm across her forehead and breathed out in silent satisfaction. And just her luck, the blue-haired girl still hadn't returned from getting her stuff! Time sure flies fast when you're too deep in your thoughts. Peridot went to the bathroom mirror and fixed her hair and brushed down her clothes. She straightened her old-fashioned, round-framed, green-coloured lenses glasses and put her shoes back on. Then she picked up her car keys and headed out the door. As she exited the room, she'd almost bumped into Lapis, who was finally back with another box and pulling onto a silver luggage bag.

Lapis groaned silently when she saw that Peridot was heading out of their room. "Y-you're done? Already?" she squeaked out and suppressed an urge to slap the other's cheek when Peridot only smiled mockingly at her and walked away. She watched as Peridot went down the hall, a huge, bronze-skinned, heavily muscled young woman appear from one of the rooms and wrapped a huge arm around the other's neck, which seemed tiny in comparison, and Peridot squeaked.

 _At least one of us has no problems making friends;_ Lapis sighed to herself and shook her head as she set her things on her bed. One more bag and a box to go, she told herself as she started back down to the visitor's parking lot where her parents were waiting for her with the car. Her mind wandered off to her new roommate and she wondered where had she heard that name before- it was kind of familiar, but it was all fuzzy when she tried to think of the further details.

 _At least she was kind of cute; in a weird, nerdy sort of way._

Lapis shook her head to be rid of that disturbing thought about her roommate, deciding that that was where she was drawing the line. She had enough social problems as it is, there was in no way she'd add another to that list, short-cute of not. She stepped out of the elevator with another student; a boy with black hair that he let grew to his shoulders, wearing obvious eyeliner, a red and black Deadpool hoodie and dark-grey ripped jeans with red and white Converse sneakers. Lapis walked away with a frown on her face- she always had that problem of being too focused on her surroundings, her parents had once complained that she was too observant than what was supposed to be proper, but she ignored them and carried on like she'd always had, despite being hurt by their words, there was nothing she could do about it. They'll simply have to make do with what they have.

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 **What do you think? Reviews are welcome.**


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Making new friends.

 **Disclaimer: Everything belongs to Rebecca Sugar and her wonderful Crewniverse; none of it is mine.**

 **A/N: Readers; read and review. I appreciate the comments. Thank you very much.**

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Lapis waved her parents and two younger twin brothers off in the car as they drove away and proceeded to walk back when it was finally out of her sight. She stuffed her hands deep into her pockets and cracked her neck muscles- her back hurt slightly from carrying all her things way up to her room on the fourth floor. D-A5-43; that`s Dorm: Block A, fifth floor, Room 43. In total there are seven blocks in the campus altogether. That's about five floors in each block and about 10 rooms on each floor. Lapis made the mental calculations in her head as she walked. So that would mean that there's exactly 350 rooms altogether. And 350 multiplied by two is 700.

So per semester there's more or less about 700 students that will be studying in Crystal Gem U- Lapis widened her eyes and breathed out nervously. She doesn't exactly know what the average total of students studying in universities in the country are but to her 700 is a very big number. You could practically build another small country with that total number of people! A very small town could have an average of at least 15 people living in it. Why, Beach City had practically about 15 permanent residents living in it!

Lapis sighed again. There was a whole new journey ahead of her and she didn't even knew where to start! Her roommate already hated her for some reason or another; or at least, that's what it looked like back there. Lapis had always been awkward with company. Don't get her wrong, making friends had been easy, back in the days when she was still a little girl and the drama hadn't started. She was cute, and somewhat polite. She had no problem attracting people, no.

Her problem with having friends was keeping them with her as she grew. People say things change as we grow older and Lapis completely agrees. Lapis used to have many friends when she was little- when she had been the best swimmer in her kindergarten class and did quite well in her studies among her peers, she had been the centre of their attention. First grade, and she was even in her class' top three and her school's best in English _and_ Maths. Then it all went wrong.

Her parents were proud of her, her teachers were proud of her; it was supposed to the highlight of her life, but why did something felt… wrong? It'd all started when her then best friend, a girl she'd knew since she was five, asked for her pocket money. A loan, she said, and after a few days she'll give it back. Back then when you're young and innocent you think nothing could go wrong. Lapis trusted that girl; even her parents knew her… right? They should, since Lapis does. Lapis tells her parents about her friends all the time.

Lapis never asked for her money back- she'd trusted her friend blindly that the girl will give it back when she's ready. She didn't tell her parents about it- it was no big deal. But soon the girl asked for more and more. One day Lapis decided to ask her where all her money went, but all she got in return was some huge-eyed, innocent look.

" _What money?"_

 _Lapis thought she'd heard it wrong, so she explained again with a brief summary for all the times she'd given the girl her money. The girl laughed at her and looked at her funny._

 _"Lapis, you're going crazy. I never borrowed your money for anything."_

 _Lapis' eye twitched. She was supposed to be saving her money for that new bike she saw at the shop window near the school! Lapis clenched her fist and asked again, but the girl shook her head. Lapis rarely lost her temper, though her parents did say that she had been a temperamental little child. Supposedly she grew out of it, but bits of it still remained. Lapis' mouth twisted into an ugly snarl. Her eyebrows narrowed and she clenched her teeth. The friend took a step back with a worried look on her face._

 _"Lapis?"_

 _"You lied." She said softly and the girl had been too scared to say anything against her. Lapis grabbed onto the girl's shirt collar and hoisted her up and glared into her eyes. The girl gulped. Lapis could easily see the tears the began pooling in the girl`s eyes._

 _"I-I didn't-"_

 _"GIVE ME BACK. MY MONEY!" Lapis shouted to the girl's face and the other instantly began wailing. Of course, the both of them were sent to the headmistress' office, and both sets of parents were called into school. Lapis' parents had looked livid- they were called off their job with reports of their only daughter bullying another for money._

 _Lapis was terrified. When the girl's parents came, they immediately pulled the other in for a hug and soothing words of 'it'll be alright, we've got this.' All she got from her parents were stern, disappointed glares and silence. The headmistress was a round woman with square glasses and a warm gaze. She'd looked at Lapis then at the girl and explained to both sets of parents of what had happened between the two._

 _Lapis felt tears start to form in her eyes when the girl's parents had reprimanded hers over the way that she had been raised and called her a 'bully'. Her parents did nothing to defend her, only that they'll make sure that Lapis receive proper punishment over her actions. But then the headmistress asked the girl for her side of the story. The girl sobbed off to them of how Lapis had suddenly demanded her for money, and when she didn't give it to her, Lapis got angry and grabbed her collar and yelled in her face._

 _Lapis was silent. She could feel when she had lost. She could sense their anger and disappointment with her and it was the heaviest thing that she had felt over her shoulders. When they had turned to her for her side of the story, Lapis couldn't find the words to defend herself. Her gaze was locked at the girl with traces of anger mixed in with fear. She gulped._

 _"I-I…s-she lied." Lapis eventually whispered softly._

 _Her audience looked on in disbelief. The other's parents had immediately called her statement absurd. There was in no way their daughter would do anything such as that! She was a perfect little angel! And Lapis didn't give any sort of explanation or witness or evidence. There was nothing. And then it was over. She was assigned to month's detention and was grounded for two months. Lapis felt weak, even too weak to fight. She`d went along with it because she didn't feel like she could win. Lapis lost her friends, her parents' trust, her teachers' trust, and that was everything. She was alone._

 _Her personality changed drastically over the course of one week. She no longer smiled or laughed, she kept to herself, she never paid any attention to anything anymore and her movements became forced. Nothing interested her. She easily became tired and emotional. Then she was called again to the office. Her classmates jeered at her as she walked past and Lapis hugged herself to try and block out the negative emotions from overflowing._

 _When she had entered, the first thing she noticed was that her parents were there, and her ex-friend and her parents were present as well. She bit on her lip as fear began taking over her body. Did she do something wrong again?_

 _"Miss Lazuli," the headmistress called. "You're here. Please, take a seat." Lapis silently obliged and turned her gaze down to her feet._

 _"I called you here today to right a wrong." The headmistress explained. "As you know, over a week ago, you were called in here because you were charged with a serious bullying accusation by your uh, friend. However, a few days ago she came out with the truth to her parents and they had in turn told me. I realized that we had made a terrible mistake."_

 _"Miss Lazuli, I hereby take back your offence record and clear you of any detention." Silence. "Do you have anything to say?" she asked gently. There were tears threatening to fall from Lapis' lashes. She rubbed an arm over her eyes and sniffed. Then she shook her head. Lapis flinched slightly when she felt her father's firm grasp on her shoulder._

 _"Lapis, you should have told us about this. You are our daughter. We would have believed in you. We could've helped."_

 _When Lapis did nothing but shrug her shoulders, her mother sighed. "Well," Lapis heard her say. "At least we got this thing over with. Thank you dear, for telling the truth." Lapis' mother said to her ex-friend. Then her mother went up and hugged her. Lapis did not return the embrace. She didn't know what to feel. She was a bit angry over her father's words- if there were any truth to it then a week ago they wouldn't have been so quick to decide that she was guilty. She felt a bit relieved- she won, after all. She was innocent, and now everyone knew about it. Lapis knew the right thing to do was to move on and forgive the girl. But she couldn't do it._

 _The headmistress excused her from school for the rest of the day and her parents took her to her favourite ice cream parlour and treated her to a grand scoop of her favourite flavours. Then they took her home and Lapis went straight up to her room. She pulled her white curtains close and laid on her bed._

 _Her head felt heavy, and she almost instantly fell asleep. Since that day Lapis never really trusted anyone anymore, she got over the whole incident but she changed entirely. She eventually laughed and smiled again, but she was never truly happy._

Lapis began falling into a silent depression. Everything she ever did in her life became responsibilities and obligations that she never really agreed to have. She lost herself in the madness of the world around her. She was trapped and there was no way out. She kept her distance from people; even those that wanted to help her because she was scared. Her relationships fail because she did not trust her partners fully to tell them the truth. She was not close with anyone because nobody was patient enough to stay and peel away her layers. Her friends come and go, and she was alone.

Lapis' escape was the water; swimming was one of her healthier methods to stress relief. The other was dancing. She went to a number of parties because they make her feel anonymous, and she could let herself be free of the real world. People who surround Lapis would think her as confident because she was always alone and could do almost anything without being dependent on someone else. But that's just because she feels like there was no one that she can truly rely on without her getting hurt in the process.

Lapis sighed and stuffed her hands into the pockets of her jeans for comfort. She was so lost in thought that she didn't even notice the other girl walking her way with an arm-load of two boxes and a side-bag. The inevitable happened- they crashed spectacularly into each other and fell onto their backs.

" _Ow!"_

 _"Hey, watch it!"_

Lapis rubbed on her arm where it hurt most from the impact before she picked herself up in increasing embarrassment. "Oh my God, I am so sorry." She apologized before picking herself up. "You know what? Let me help you with that!"

The other girl remained silent and was rubbing gently on her cheek. Her full, luscious lips were curled up in a manner of frustration, probably by the accident, and Lapis' guilt increased. Lapis could see that the girl had a head of long, untamed, lavender-coloured hair that went past her waist and a short yet curvy body structure. Her attire consisted of a white, sleeveless tunic with a thin, black belt around the waist, and it was paired with ripped, black leggings and black strappy sandals.

Lapis immediately began picking up the other's scattered belongings and putting it quickly into the boxes- she wanted to avoid making it a larger scene that it already was. The other girl eventually pulled herself to her knees and helped her to it. They finished up a short while later and Lapis breathed out a sigh of relief.

"Hey, thanks!" The girl quipped as she slung the bag onto her shoulder again and picked up one of her boxes, whilst Lapis took the other. "Wait, you don't have to-"

"I think I do; and I will do it anyway. You really needed help with your stuff. Mine's already up and I've nothing to do at the moment, just been seeing my family back."

The girl bit on her lip but reluctantly gave in. "Well, thanks. Uh, my name's Amethyst."

"Yeah? Like the gem?"

"Exactly like it." Amethyst answered and shot Lapis a wide, pleased smile. "Great! You got it in one try! What's yours?"

"It`s Lapis. Lazuli. Lapis Lazuli." Lapis quickly said. "So, uh, where's your room?"

"Oh?" Amethyst replied, slightly flustered with the rush of the moment and the immediate change of subject. "It's uh, oh my God, I think it's in Block A? Level 5? I think it's D-A5-47."

"Hey, we're like neighbours! I`m on that floor too- Room 53."

"Cool."

The journey was quiet and uneventful but Lapis witnessed that Amethyst seemed to have known a lot of people already, and felt slightly nervous to be walking by her side when other people kept greeting the purple-haired girl with what seemed to be like close familiarity. Amethyst apparently noticed her discomfort and she gently nudged Lapis' shoulder.

"Hey Leslie? Or whatever it is your name was? What's up, man? You okay?"

Lapis hid her slightly reddened cheeks behind the box. "Oh, it's nothing really. It's… you seem to know a lot of people."

Amethyst gave her a raspy chuckle of amusement. "Dude, now that wouldn't be you; it'd be me. I dated a senior here like one year ago that's like three years older than I was."

Lapis couldn't help the mixed expression of surprise and curiosity on her face from Amethyst's claim. "It's really, really not a big deal. I'm from Beach City and she's from Beach City and we just clicked, y'know?" Amethyst explained with a heavy sigh. "I just wish people would stop looking at me and just see _her._ I`m not even with that chick anymore."

They reached Amethyst`s room and the girl entered and placed her stuff at the foot of the only other empty bed.

"Hey Leslie?"

"It's Lapis."

"Whatever, look. Thanks, alright? Sorry if I bored you with my junk or anything."

"Nah," Lapis assured Amethyst and shrugged her shoulders. "It's totally fine. I better get back to my room, though. See you later?"

"Right, nice." Amethyst nodded and replied calmly. "And hey, don't be strangers now, yeah?" Lapis smiled a wide grin and nodded. _Make new friends; check._

"Okay, see you."

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